The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone By

Stepping outside the DCU, I wanted to point you to another great book by Robert Kirkman, "The Walking Dead". Now, to begin with, this series had quite a few strikes against my reading it. It is horror, black and white, and not DC. It had one plus - Robert Kirkman. I had read his "Invincible", liked his writing, and wanted to try something else from him.

Well, it is good I put aside my dislike for black and white comics and picked this TPB up. If you have seen the movie "28 Days Later" the initial chapter of this series has a similar feel. However, once the protagonist, Rick, gets out of his local town and starts searching for his wife and kid, the series kicks into high gear and new territory. This book is not the tongue-in-cheek look at zombies we have seen from Hollywood in the past decade. It is a real look at what might be normal people's reaction to this extreme situation. I'm five volumes into the TPBs and Rick and company have changed quite a bit from this first volume. Artist Tony Moore establishes a realistic looking cast and location. His art really propels this first volume.

Kirkman really captures the frightening nature of a world full of zombies. Sometimes the scariest moments are what happens between the uninfected humans and how they treat each other. All in all this is a quality series worth your time and money.